Browse photographs from the Paul Dorpat Collection which documents the history of Seattle and the Pacific Northwest. At this time, a small sampling of images has been digitized while the collection is actively being processed.
Pioneer Building interior, February 5, 1975
Staircase and offices in the interior of the Pioneer Building in Seattle, Washington.
Identifier: spl_dor_00014
Date: 1975-02-05
View this itemHenry Kotkins Interview, July 16, 1987
Henry Kotkins was a native Seattlite, a Port of Seattle Commissioner and the founder of Skyway Luggage. Kotkins attended Garfield High School and the University of Washington. Kotkin’s father started the Seattle Suitcase, Trunk and Bag Manufacturing Company in 1910. Kotkins took over the business after his father’s death in 1936, when the Great Depression was threatening to shut it down. He turned the business around and changed the name to the Skyway Luggage Company, introducing innovations like wheeled suitcases in a variety of colors beyond black and brown. Kotkins served on the 1962 World’s Fair Committee and was a Port of Seattle Commissioner during the 1970s and 1980s. Kotkins was also a member of the Rotary Club of Seattle, the Corinthian and the Seattle Yacht Club.
Identifier: spl_ds_hkotkins_01
Date: 1987-07-16
View this itemSamuel McKinney Interview, August 17, 1987
Reverend Samuel McKinney (1926-2018) was pastor of Mt. Zion Baptist Church for 40 years and a major leader in Seattle’s civil rights movement. McKinney was born in Flint, Michigan and raised in Cleveland, Ohio. He served in the Air Force during World War II and in 1949 graduated from Morehouse College where one of his classmates was Martin Luther King Jr. In 1952 he graduated from Colgate Rochester Divinity School and in 1953 married his wife Louise. Together the couple moved to Seattle in 1958 where McKinney became the pastor of Mt. Zion. McKinney was a tireless advocate for social and civil rights causes. He was one of the founders of the Seattle Opportunities Industrialization Center, an organization providing job training; helped start Seattle’s first black-owned bank to help community members obtain home loans after discirimation from other banks; advocated for Seattle’s fair housing act as a member of the Seattle Human Rights Commission and participated in civil rights marches and demonstrations nationwide.
Identifier: spl_ds_smckinney_01
Date: 1987-08-17
View this itemMunicipal Plans Commission of the City of Seattle map showing Lake Union Waterfront District, 1911
Map showing proposed city improvements under the Plan of Seattle, commonly known as the Bogue Plan. Designed by Virgil Bogue, Seattle's municipal plans director, the Bogue Plan proposed a series of improvements aimed at beautifying the city and making it making it more cohesive after years of rapid growth and industrialization. The plan worked in tandem with the Olmsted Brothers new system of parks, begun in 1903, and proposed new government buildings, an improved city center and an interurban road connecting the city together. The plan was rejected by voters in 1912.
Identifier: spl_maps_2465533_12
Date: 1911
View this itemEast Channel Bridge, undated
View of the East Channel Bridge from Mercer Island to Bellevue, looking west from Enatai Beach Park in Bellevue towards Mercer Island.
Identifier: spl_dor_00030
View this itemUniversity Bridge, looking east, July 10, 1960
The University Bridge opened in 1919, connecting Seattle's University District with Eastlake. In this photograph, the bridge is open as boats travel underneath from Portage Bay to Lake Union.
Identifier: spl_dor_00001
Date: 1960-07-10
View this itemRavenna Methodist Protestant Church, Seattle, ca. 1912
Ravenna Methodist Church, also known as the Little Brown Church on the Hill, was built in 1911 and occupied the southeast corner of 33rd Ave. NE and NE 60th St., until a larger brick church was built for the congregation across the street in 1923. Photograph appears in HistoryLink essay "Methodists form congregation in Ravenna neighborhood of Seattle in 1903" by Paul Dorpat, posted February 25, 2001: https://www.historylink.org/File/3019
Identifier: spl_dor_gpn_re_00124
Date: 1912
View this itemMunicipal News, v. 53, no. 9, May. 13, 1963
Page 68 article discusses plan for redeveloping downtown Seattle.
Identifier: spl_mn_818362_53_09
Date: 1963-05-13
View this itemMt. Rainier, Washington, ca. 1910s
Mt. Rainier through foliage from Seattle, with Lake Washington and Mercer Island in view.
Identifier: spl_dor_gpn_re_00099
Date: 1910; 1911; 1912; 1913; 1914; 1915; 1916; 1917; 1918; 1919
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